Tag Archives: Russia

The Guardian reports: Russia’s defence minister Sergei Shoigu is being “sidelined” due to problems in the war against Ukraine and is likely being ridiculed by soldiers for his “ineffectual” leadership, said British intelligence. The latest update from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said: “Recent independent Russian media reports have claimed that due to the problems Russia is facing in its …

Politico Europe reports: EU foreign ministers are set to back a suspension of the bloc’s visa facilitation agreement with Moscow, the Financial Times reported, citing three officials involved in talks. Authorities have discussed limiting travel permits for Russian citizens, with some member states calling for an outright ban on Russian tourist visas, but there is no majority in favor of …

Mediaite reports: Jared Kushner’s own mother asked him if he was colluding with Russia, the former White House official revealed to Newsmax on Friday. “She’s reading articles online. Chuck Schumer and my parents, you know they used to be friends and we were Democrats and he’s going around the Upper East Side telling everybody that I’m going to be indicted. …

The Associated Press reports: Authorities began distributing iodine tablets to residents near Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant Friday in case of a radiation leak, amid mounting fears that the fighting around the complex could trigger a catastrophe. The move came a day after the plant was temporarily knocked offline because of what officials said was fire damage to a transmission …

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports: For a time, Anna de Rothschild boasted of her family roots to the European banking dynasty, donning designer clothes, a Rolex watch, and driving a $170,000 black Mercedes-Benz SUV. She talked about developing a sprawling luxury housing project on Emerald Bay in the Bahamas, a high-rise hotel in Monaco, and a Formula One race track in …

Axios reports: The Biden administration announced Friday it will nominate an ambassador-at-large for the Arctic, raising the profile of American policymaking for the region. The move comes at a time of increased militarization in the far north, with NATO members squaring off against Russia, and at a time of rapid climate change that is making the Arctic more accessible. In …

The Associated Press reports: U.K. residents will see an 80% increase in their annual household energy bills, the country’s energy regulator announced Friday, following a record 54% spike in April. That will bring costs for the average customer from 1,971 pounds ($2,332) a year to 3,549 pounds. The latest price cap — the maximum amount that gas suppliers can charge …

Reuters reports: Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Friday that his military’s SU-24 warplanes had been modified to carry nuclear weapons and that Minsk would react immediately if the West caused it any problems. Lukashenko said he had agreed the move to modernise Belarusian warplanes with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Belta news agency reported. Belarus, a staunch Russian ally, …

Bloomberg News reports: President Vladimir Putin ordered his army to boost its troop total by 137,000 to 1.15 million, the highest level in more than a decade, as Russia digs in for its war against Ukrainian forces backed by the US and its allies. Putin’s brief decree, published on the Kremlin’s website, didn’t explain the motivation for the increase or …

Reuters reports: The United States on Tuesday urged its citizens to leave Ukraine, saying it believed Russia was preparing to target civilian and government infrastructure in the next few days as the war reaches the six-month mark. The warning followed a ban by the Ukrainian government on celebrations in the capital Kyiv on Wednesday’s anniversary of independence from Soviet rule …

The Associated Press reports: Russia’s top counterintelligence agency on Monday blamed Ukrainian spy agencies have organized the killing of the daughter of a Russian nationalist ideologue. Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), the main KGB successor agency, said that the killing of Darya Dugina has been “prepared and perpetrated by the Ukrainian special services.” Dugina was the daughter of Alexander Dugin …

The Miami Herald reports: Snipers from Russia and other countries hostile to the United States are competing in war games being held this week in Venezuela in events described as Olympic games for soldiers that were organized not only to show that Moscow still has friends but also that some of them are in Latin America. The international war games …

Reuters reports: The daughter of an ultra-nationalist Russian ideologue who advocates Russia absorbing Ukraine was killed in a suspected car bomb attack outside Moscow, Russian state investigators said on Sunday. Darya Dugina, daughter of prominent ideologue Alexander Dugin, was killed on Saturday evening after a suspected explosive device blew up the Toyota Land Cruiser she was driving, investigators said. Father …

The Washington Post reports: A federal appeals court has ordered the release of a secret Justice Department memo discussing whether President Donald Trump obstructed the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. The unanimous panel decision issued Friday echoes that of a lower court judge, Amy Berman Jackson, who last year accused the Justice Department of dishonesty in its …

The Associated Press reports: People in Moscow who were disappointed when Starbucks closed its coffee shops after Russia sent troops into Ukraine may now feel a caffeine jolt of hope: A nearly identical operation is opening in the capital. The name’s almost the same: Stars Coffee. The logo could be the separated-at-birth twin of the Starbucks mermaid, with flowing hair, …

Vice News reports: At a Russian arms fair this week, a developer showed off their new creation, and the logical next step of the robot arms race: a Boston Dynamics-style dog robot with an RPG strapped to its back. A video uploaded by RIA Novosti, a Russian-state owned news agency, shows the robot in action, in which the robot tiptoes …

Axios reports: Russia confirmed for the first time on Thursday that it is negotiating with the U.S. regarding a possible prisoner swap deal that would secure the freedom of WNBA star Brittney Griner and former Marine Paul Whelan. Driving the news: The news comes after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov confirmed last week that Russia was “ready to discuss” a …

The Daily Beast reports: Ukraine’s defense ministry published a video Thursday mocking Russian tourists who fled Crimea after huge explosions ripped through an airbase on the occupied peninsula this week. Footage shared on social media earlier this week showed beachgoers running for cover after the blasts at the Saki base, an attack that has been credited to Ukrainian special forces. …

Open Secrets reports: A Russian media organ agreed to pay American conspiracy theorist Benjamin Swann about $6.8 million to produce Kremlin propaganda on topics like the war in Ukraine and U.S. “culture wars,” according to new Foreign Agents Registration Act registration records filed with the Department of Justice. A youth pastor turned news anchor who used his platform to spread …

Reuters reports: China, which Russia has sought as an ally since being cold-shouldered by the West over its invasion of Ukraine, has called the United States the “main instigator” of the crisis. In an interview with the Russian state news agency TASS published on Wednesday, China’s ambassador to Moscow, Zhang Hanhui, accused Washington of backing Russia into a corner with …